Touch-system index.



H. A. WARDY. TOUGH SYSTEM INDEX.

APPLICATION FILED, JUNE 19, 1911.

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H. A. WARDY.

TOUGH SYSTEM INDEX.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 19, 1911.

1,058, 1 1 8. v I Patented Apr. 8, 1913.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY A. WARDY, OFST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

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Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed June 19, 1911. SerialNo. 634,163.

. Patented Apr. 8,1913.

index for use in filing cases or cabinets; and

it consists essentially of a series of aphabeti cally indexed guides, inthe form of cards,

, partitions or wrappers, of approximately equal height, the index ofeach guide being cut away so that the user by placin his fin:

ger on the upper edges of the gu1des will engage the ones in front ofthe desired index, but will leave the latter undisturbed when the onesin front are moved away.

I prefer. to place on each guide all index letters used in thatparticular compartment of the cabinet, except'the very letters for whichany particular guide is the index; in other words the letters to beindexed by each guide are cut away and do not appear thereon, but appearon all other guides in the compartment, particularly on the guidesbehind the cut away guides. Folders or cards may-be located, between theguides, and these would contain the name so indexed, with otherappropriate data, and, also, might contain the index letters.

There are other features in my invention, and objects to be attainedthereby, all of which will appear from the following detaileddescription, reference bein made to the accompanying drawings in which Ihave illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, and in whichFigure-1 is a perspective view of one compartment of a filing cabinet orcase illustrating a complete index; Fig. 2 is a view of one of the cutaway index guides, showing the index letters on the guide behind and afolder or card corresponding to the cut away index guide, the saidfolder or card being located in front of the cut away guide; Fig. 3 is aside or edge View of a group of index guides in the form of folders witha number of cards or folders between the.several guides; Fig. 4 is a"view similar to Fig. 3 showing how the finger fails to engage the cutawa guides while drawing forwardly'the i e or guides in front, so as todisclose t e folders or cards in front of the index guide.

The guide 1 may be in' single sheet or upon which said letters filed inany position,

folder form, and of any suitable size and shape, so as to be adapted foruse under various conditions. In-Fig. l I have illustrated a completeset of guides, and a'number of intervening cards or folders 2, as theyappear when arranged in a compartment-A of a case or cabinet. "In theembodiment shown the guides 1 are in the form of stiff cardboard, andhave folder leaves 3 connected to the lower edges thereof. The leaves 3terminate below the upper edges of the guides so as not to conceal theindexes upon the guides.

The front guide 1 is formed preferably with a straight or uncut upperedge, as plainly shown'in Fig. 1. The upper edge of the folder leaf 3 isstraight or uncut upper edge and this is true of all of said folderleaves in whatever position they may be. As shown in Fig. 1 the frontguide 1' constitutes an index for the letter A and one or moreadditional letters if desired. The alphabetical index4 is printed uponor otherwise aflixed also provided with a to the front side of each ofthe guides 1 and the letters may be arranged in groups, each groupcontaining two or more letters in alphabetical order. The guide at thefront is preferably the index for the first letter or group of letters,the second guide constituting an index for" the second letter or groupof letters, and the third guide constituting an index for the thirdletter or group of letters and so on in sequential order to the end ofthe alphabet. The letter or let-. ters for .which each guide is an indexbehind the guide in front are cut away on the respective guides as shownat 5. That is to say in the embodiment shown the letters are grouped onthe various guides, and the second guide constitutes an index,f0r thesecond group of letters which, in the present instance, comprises theletters 0 D. The letters C D appear in alinement on all the guides,except the second guide. which constitutes an index for the said letters0 D, and said second ide is cut away -as indicated at 5 removing the artof said guide D would appear. The index letters on each succeeding guideare also removed by a cut away portion 5 as illustrated in Fig. 1.

When the user desires to inspect any paper or under any letter or groupof letters, he engages the finger with. the edge of the guide in frontof the proper cut away portion 5, and draws forwardly all of the guidesin front of said cut away guide which is the index to the place orpapers desired. The cut away portions 5 in addition to constitutingspaces for free movement of the fingers also render visible the indexletters on the next adjacent guide at the rear so that the user willhave no ditliculty in locating the index letters desired. Each guidewill have aflixed thereon in some convenient position the letter orletters indexed thereby as shown at 6 in Fig. 2.

-The cards or folders 2,are provided with a space .7 to receive the nameand a space 8 to receive the addresses or other data, and also hasaflixed thereon the index letters 9 corresponding to the letters removedfrom the'uppe-r edge of the guide by the cut away portion 5.

I have shown the index arranged for use as an index to the first name,instead of to the last or surname, but it may be used for any otherpurpose, and I do not restrict myself to its use for any particularpurpose. The guides are devoid of any projecting tabs, which arecondemned in many places because of the fact that they frequently becomebroken or detached, thereby totally destdroying the utility of theguideso damage The present arrangement constitutes an index usable by thetouch system, well known in the typewriter art, since all that isnecessary to find .any particular place or paper is a stroke or pressureof the finger at the required place or position and a forward movementor pressure of the finger effectively to move the obstructing guide,

etc., from the place to which access is desired. In these and otherparticulars my index possesses superior advantages over any others ofwhich I am aware.

I do not restrict myself to specific features, but am aware that theremay be various modifications in arrangement and construction from thatherein shown, without departure from the spirit arid scope of theinvention.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is- 1. An index comprising a case; a series of uniform guidecards adapted to be arranged therein, said cards being provided with aseries, of groups of alphabetical index characters which extend acrossthe upper exposed edge of each card and all the cards having the indexcharacters uniformly arranged, so that when placed in said case theindex characters will be in alinement, and

vided with a series of groups of 1 nocaiie all of the cards havingsemicircular depressions constituting finger spaces in their up per edgewhich remove the groups of index characters in sequence, therebyexposing the index group on the rearwardly' acent guide; and foldersprovided with alphabetical index characters corresponding to the severalgroups of index characters carried 5 on the said guides, said foldersbeing arranged in said case intermedlate of said guides, respectively,in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

2. A filing system comprising a case; a series of folders arranged insaid case, said folders being provided each with a space for receivingthe name and address identifying the contents of said folder, and alsowith varying groups of alphabetical index characters corresponding tothe names under which said several folders are indexed; and guide cardsseparating said folders into groups each of said gulde cards beingproalphabetical index characters across their upper front face adjacentto their upper edge, all of said index characters being positioneduniformly on all of the said guide cards except that the group of indexcharacters corresponding to the group carried by the forwardlyadjacentfolders is removed by cutting a semicircular depression in the upperedge of the guide card at the point where said group of index characterswas positioned, substantially as described.

3. An index system comprising a case; a series of folders distinguishedone from the others by alphabetical index characters carried thereon andbeing an'a'n'ged in said case in sequential alphabetical order; andpartition guide cards separating said folders into groups, said cardseach having alphabetical index characters divided *into separatedgroups, each group containing two or more letters in alphabetical order,said characters beinguniformly printed on said guides across the frontface thereof adjacent to the upper edge, and each card being providedwith a cut. away finger space which removes the index characters whichcorrespond to the index characters carried by the folders in front ofeach guide card, respectively, substantially as described.

In Witness whereof,l have signed this Specification in the presence oftwo subscrib-

